18/11/2014
How the Kai Kart came to our town!!
As told by Ron & Sue Meiklen
The Kai Kart
The Kai Kart started life in Wellington about 1968 and was sighted in Taranaki Street directly opposite the Police station. So it was prophetic that a Policeman should buy it and then shift it to Ruatoria.
I had arrived in Ruatoria 1 January 1971 and during the next 18 months I perceived a need for a takeaway business. I looked at various premises in Ruatoria in which to set up a takeaway but nothing really suited which did not require vast amounts of money spent on them to bring them up to an acceptable standard. I even went so far as to price a caravan shell and then cost its outfitting….fairly prohibitive.
One day while reading the paper I notice a Pie Cart up for tender in Wellington, fully outfitted and ready to go. Having been a regular customer of all the Pie Carts in Wellington over the years, I was very conversant with their various states. So far as my memory served me they were all in good condition. I discussed it with Sue and we finally put in a tender for $1500 not really expecting it to be accepted.
To our surprise, and consternation, a letter arrived from Wellington solicitor a couple of weeks later accepting our tender. At the price, what had been bought?
I duly arranged with the bank manager, Robin Buist, for a small loan then Sue and I headed off for Wellington for the first look at our new acquisition. On the way down we discussed various names for the cart and the best we could come up with was Sue’s Diner, but when we saw the cart the first thing we spotted was the sign on the roof… THE KAI KART. What better name for a Pie Cart n Ruatoria?
The owner of the Kai Kart had a small Series 1 Land Rover and he offered to tow the cart to Ruatoria for the princely sum of $50. I jumped at his offer as previous quotes I hade obtained ranged from $250 to $500. I felt at the time that he considered Ruatoria to be just the other side of Napier. He said he would leave early on Monday morning and reckoned to be in Ruatoria but Tuesday evening. I didn’t argue with him but I knew there was no way he would be in Ruatoria by Tuesday night. That week I kept getting sighting reports from various Ruatoria residents, mainly stock agents, who had spotted the cart while on their travels. Finally, around 6pm on the Thursday 8th June 1972 The Kai Kart arrived in Ruatoria, and we opened for business on the Friday 16th June. One amusing incident that happened while being towed north. The previous owner stopped at the top of Tangoio just north of Napier to give the Land Rover a spell and to check everything before the descent. I mean this is in the middle of nowhere… not a sign of civilisation … when a car pulled up and out spilled a number of Maori males…”Hay! You open Chief”, they cried out. They have must been from the Coast.
I could only work in the cart when I was off duty from the Police I had to employ staff part time. I can only remember the initial staff, who was Ted Heteraka, Bo Maru and John Garrud (teller form the bank). We seemed to have lots of fun. I remember one Saturday prior to a general election, when a candidate from Gisborne came calling. He gave me his reasons why I should vote for him and ordered a mushroom burger. In those days the mushroom we used was a black glutinous mass that came out of a tin. I duly made his burger and slipped it into a bag and as I turned towards hi twirled the bag to close it. Unfortunately the bag was faulty… the bottom had not been sealed properly …. and the burger shot out and hit the potential politician fair in the middle of his brilliantly white shirt. He finished with the mushroom, tomato sauce and beetroot all over the front of his shirt. I can’t remember if he got elected or not, but he should have because he was very polite and tactful about the whole incident. I all but burst my foo foo valve trying desperately not to laugh.
Another incident I remember concerns Ernie Smith who was the publican at the time. I was working in the cart on a sunny Sunday afternoon and business had been very quiet, so I had plenty of time to observe the vehicles coming and going from the back of the pub. Some obviously had a got beer while others obviously hadn’t. I was quite relaxed about as Ernie had been going along with our localules. Anyway sometime during the afternoon Ernie brought his small daughter over to the cart for a bag of chips. While the chips were cooking Ernie asked, “How’s business?” I couldn’t resist it, “not as busy as you,” I replied. The look on Ernie’s face was a picture; you could almost hear the gears spinning in his brain as he action replayed the previous couple of hours.
We didn’t operate the cart for very long. On 22nd January 1973 we leased it out to the guy, whose name escapes me, who had the taxi in Tikitiki. He leased it for 6 months and then finally purchased it.
